The techies of Ars Technica have written a thorough review of Apple’s new MacBook laptop. After reading this review, I’m amazed how this laptop beats the recently-released MacBook Pro that also costs more. Yeah, the MBP has extra neato stuff but performance-wise, the MacBook keeps pace. I guess that’s why Apple speed-bumped the MBP, to keep a performance difference.
Maybe a black MacBook instead of a MBP??
Just check out the architecture for the entry way of the new Apple Store in New York scheduled to open on Friday, May 19. This store will be open just like 7-Eleven – 24x7x365!
Must make a pilgrimage to the Mac mecca.
Technorati Tags: Apple
It is what it isn’t on Part 1 of the Finals of Top Chef. I can’t believe Dave Martin was eliminated in the QuickFire, leaving Harold and Tiffani. It just didn’t make sense.
I purposely haven’t read the judges’ blogs (yet) to understand their decision. Given the criteria for the elimination, Dave seemed to have the upper hand over Tiffani. Harold won two of the decisions, and Dave won the third. Tiffani didn’t win any, and most of her dishes didn’t wow any of the guest judges. Okay, okay, Dave screwed up on the last round and only made two dishes, not three as specified. So disqualify Dave from that round which Harold won anyway. Dave did get good reviews for his two dishes while Tiffani’s dishes got comments of “rubbery,” “fishy,” and “salty.” Seemingly, Tiffani finished last in each round but still made it past Dave. What’s cooking here? Was the decision based on drawing higher ratings with a finals of Harold going up against Tiffani? A finals of Dave and Harold wouldn’t be as exciting so was this the factor in Dave’s elimination?
So it is what it isn’t on this episode of Top Chef.
It was fun to see the last three eliminated chefs (Lee Anne, Stephen, and Miguel) return as “high rolling” guest judges. From the previews of next week’s final episode, it looks like they (along with eliminated Dave) will be playing a part in determining the winner.
Oh yeah, the polls are still open to submit your vote of who will be Top Chef.
Technorati Tags: television, Top Chef
With the announcement of the MacBooks along comes a quiet speed bump to MacBook Pros. The 2.0GHz model goes to 2.16GHz while the lower end 1.83GHz MacBook Pro moves up to 2.0GHz.
You can also get the “glossy” screen option that is standard on the MacBook. According to MacNN, the glossy screen “makes graphics, photos, and videos appear with richer color and deeper blacks and is ‘great for watching DVD movies. If you prefer a display with anti-glare coating for a matte rather than glossy viewing experience, choose the standard widescreen display.'”
Maybe it’s time for a MacBook Pro…
Apple has just added new MacBooks to its computing family. Following Apple’s new moniker for laptops, the MacBook replaces iBooks as MacBook Pros replaced the PowerBook line. These new beauties are available in Michael Jackson’s favorite colors, black or white. They feature a 13-in screen and are supposedly 5x faster than previous iBooks. The iSight camera is built-in and of course, Front Row is bundled. Prices start at $1099 for a basic model
The black MacBooks are reminiscent of the old “Blackbird” PowerBook G3 line – a favorite of mine. I’d still go for a Pro for work use.
What does Dallas Mavericks’ owner Mark Cuban do after a Mavs game? He blogs of course! In his latest entries, he has some interesting thoughts and commentaries about blogging and traditional media, namely newspapers.
He does have a point about same old, non-original stories on the Net. Blogs are interesting because they offer various viewpoints and fresh perspectives compared to online news sites.
Although he does realize the financial limitations put forth on traditional media:
Bloggers drive blogs, share price drives traditional media. Blogging is personal, traditional media is corporate.
Which is exactly why blog readership is going up, while traditional media is consolidating, if not contracting. Traditional media goes to work, bloggers live their work.
So my takeaway from all of this is if you want good ideas to share, you first need to become a whiny millionaire then you need to buy an NBA club so that you can go to the games for free. Then after the game, still amped up, go home, think up good ideas, then write about them in your blog.
Technorati Tags: blog
Wired.com along with Forbes.com discusses the infusion of technology with sneakers. And it’s not only Nike innovating in the high tech kicks space. Adidas, ASICS, Puma, Reebok, Brooks Sports, Geox, Mizuno, and New Balance all feature specialized technology.
The Adidas 1 features a computerized motor to adjust cushioning. The Brooks Sports Trance 5 has a heating, ventilation, and air conditioning system to prevent overheating. Nike’s Air Max 360 uses 65 layers of nitrogen-encapsulating microfilm to give the wearer the sensation of running on air.
Of course, further research is needed to verify these claims. I’ll take a pair each for evaluation purposes.
Got the open source blog server WordPress running at work the other day. Gonna try to use it for some internal work we want to improve on. Installation of all the components (Apache, PHP, MySQL, phpAdmin, and WordPress) was okay, a little confusing at times, but not too bad.
Finding WP themes to match a project’s “style” is harder and more important than I thought. I figured any theme would do since it’s all eye candy but not really. The structure of the theme (number of columns, where data is placed, etc.) actually does make a difference on perception (and therefore) usage of the blog.
Also learned that WP supports many different plugins that add features to your blog. Have to look through the various plugins and try some of them, especially the ones that help draw out important or the latest information.
Hope to have a solid start for next week.
Microsoft is actively getting into the blogging game with the next version of Word, Word 2007. According to this blog entry, Word 2007 will let users create blog entries and post them to popular blog services like Blogger.
The Top Chef finals in Las Vegas are coming up so who do you think will become the Top Chef?
Although I haven’t had a chance to watch the post production Top Chef reunion episode for clues (it’s still on my time shift recorder aka VCR), our household opinion is that Tiffani will be the Top Chef. She has won several of the Quickfire contests and has done well throughout the series. Harold is good as well, but I think he’ll come up short. Likable Dave, who the judges describe as the “wildcard,” is too mercurial, and you’re not quite sure how he’ll perform.
Reading through the judges’ blogs, it feels like Gail Simmons is apologizing for Tiffani’s on-screen behavior while Tom Colicchio implores Tiffani to understand how her personality impacts others. Are the judges rationalizing their choice for the Top Chef winner? We’ll find out soon enough!
Technorati Tags: television, Top Chef
Walt Mossberg talks about the competing models of building digital devices, the component model and the end-to-end model. Microsoft uses the component model where various companies supply hardware and software components designed to work on a common reference platform whereas Apple has been a stalwart with the end-to-end model. Sure, Apple gets components from various suppliers as well, but the overall design and integration is architected by Apple.
An interesting read, especially the comments about Apple working on a “media-playing cellphone and a home-media hub.”
Call it friggen ragin’ hormones or just call it basic human behavior, but Britney Spears’ second pregnancy was unavoidable. You see, according to this study, men like Kevin Federline are genetically irresistible. Just check out K Fed’s prominent jaw and beard – two traits suggesting high testosterone levels and masculinity. It’s human behavior for women to go after guys like this so Britney simply couldn’t help it.
Either that or Britney heard motherhood makes women smarter. How better to get even smarter by becoming a mother of two – twice the brain boost!!
Technorati Tags: baby, Britney Spears